88-05 Gewehr

[ira scott]

I'm really liking the pajama look! As far as my lead bullets, they are lubricated(two grooves) and have gas checks seated. Should I still give them the Alox tumble treatment? In my mind, it couldn't hurt?

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I often use gasfitters teflon tape, as an alternative to lubrisizing. It is wider and thicker than the DIY store stuff. One+ wrap & fold over the bare base. No sizing as long as it will chamber. Another benefit: It is compatible with jacketed bullet ammo, not requiring a strict cleaning when switching projectile types.

[ira scott]

SUCCESS with the Gewher!  I had excellent results today with my initial skirmish lead bullet loads. The projectiles are .321 184 grain gas-checked that were for the 32 Winchester special. I tried XMP5744, 2400 and Unique with the latter having a velocity spread of only 4 FPS (5 shots) and a nice .75" group at 30 yards. Grouped about 1.5" above POA and very slightly to the right which could possibly have been the gale force wind. The three cartridges I had left over from testing I put on a 66% silhouette at 100 yds. Very satisfying for the first afternoon of shooting with a 130 year old rifle!

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[pony express]

How did it feed? Mine will sometimes have the cartridges "nose dive", if the OAL is too short. I've had good results with Trailboss, Unique and 2400 (2400 too fast for skirmish loads, but could work for Medium range loads).

[ira scott]

Pony, I only loaded the last three rounds in the magazine, the rest I single loaded. The last three seemed to feed fine, my C.O.L. was 2.865".  I found the 2400 to be a little to "energetic" for skirmish loads also.  17 grains was in the low 1600s and that was at 50 degrees.